Ricci Shryock

Mar 17, 2025 | allafrica.com | Ricci Shryock

Kansala, Guinea-Bissau — For centuries, the history of the West African kingdom of Kaabu has been told mainly by word of mouth. Kaabu existed from the mid-1500s to the 1800s. At its peak, it encompassed Guinea-Bissau and reached into what are now Senegal and Gambia. Sometimes Kaabu's story passed from father to son. Often it was passed by griots -- or West African oral historians -- who sang about the kingdom's rulers.

Mar 14, 2025 | voanews.com | Ricci Shryock

For centuries, the history of the West African kingdom of Kaabu has been told mainly by word of mouth. Kaabu existed from the mid-1500s to the 1800s. At its peak, it encompassed Guinea-Bissau and reached into what are now Senegal and Gambia. Sometimes Kaabu's story passed from father to son. Often it was passed by griots — or West African oral historians — who sang about the kingdom’s rulers.

Nov 18, 2024 | worldofinteriors.com | Ricci Shryock

When Oumou Sy was a child living in northern Senegal she was convinced it was possible to physically touch the sky. During rainstorms, she would grab a long branch from the ground, climb the nearest tree and poke upwards. ‘I wanted to see if I could touch whoever was throwing water down on us,’ she says decades later from her workshop in Dakar, the country’s capital, where she is delicately using a razor blade to cut thread on a piece of wearable art.

Apr 28, 2024 | sanjuandailystar.com | Ricci Shryock

Hatchlings are placed in a bucket until it is safe for them to be released on Poilão Island off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa, Oct. 30, 2023. While the masses of turtles seem to have little trouble finding the spot to lay their eggs — some swim more than 600 miles across the North Atlantic — it’s hard to imagine somewhere more challenging for human turtle-lovers to reach.

Apr 27, 2024 | spokesman.com | Ricci Shryock

Each year, thousands of baby green sea turtles clamber across a beautiful, white-sand paradise that is one of the largest hatching sites of this species in the Atlantic, adorably making their way to the sea. There’s one noticeable absence: people. The spectacular hatching events take place between August and December on Poilão Island, a tiny, uninhabited speck off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.